Renhai Studio Archives

A Collection of Renhai by members of The Renhai Studio

Oh, What Shall We DO?

A Renhai by John Daleiden (Solo)

in the parlor
three empty porridge bowls—
not a soul in sight

one glass slipper left behind—
the tails of three blind mice

on the house lot
a jumbled pile of sticks—
call out the police

Archive Id: 189
John Daleiden: USA
Written:: December 2, 2009

Theme: Things left behind
Season: Autumn
Kigo: n/a
Verse Form: Free
Process: Forward

Links 1/2: Cavity-shaped (bowls / Glass slipper).
Links 2/3: Stick-shaped (Tails / Sticks).
Links 3/1: House / Parlor.

Notes: This renhai was composed according to the classical scheme described by the inventor, Vaughn Seward—Verse 2, line 1 then Verse 2, line 2. In the Cinderella fairy tale "one glass slipper" was left behind after the beautiful, mysterious woman overstayed her evening at the ball and hurriedly left - she lost her glass slipper in her haste. Through some mighty fine detective work, the prince finally found his mystery "gal" and wed her.

Likewise, in the nursery rhyme / song the farmer's wife cut off the tails of "three blind" mice with the carving knife. Although the song does not say so, those chopped off tails probably made a pretty gruesome sight lying about the farmstead.

Verse 1 reveals the "three empty porridge bowls" which a distraught family will soon discover; and even more frightening, is that fact that in a few minutes they will catch the culprit sleeping in their beds! Is there no safety in this crazy world?

In Verse 3 the devastation is complete, the rickety house of sticks lies in ruins on its foundation, and no one is in sight. It is time to call out the gendarmes! In each of the verses some object of value is used and left behind at the scene of evil doing. In each of the fairy tales a certain amount of "detective work" leads the reader to the certain knowledge that "evil" lurks in the middle of society, but through some careful "snooping" of the crime scenes, we come to a comprehension of what took place. Not everyone gets to live happily ever after! Not in real life and certainly not in the fairy tales.

While the renhai form was intended to be composed of three stand alone haiku like verses, this renhai is composed of three verses that display the characteristics of senryu. The tongue in cheek title adds to the good-natured humor.